ша
ST9W
штату
A SPECIAL REPORT SERIES BY THE N.C. DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES. DIVISION OF
HEALTH SERVICES. STATE CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS, P.O. BOX 2091, RALEIGH. N.C. 27602
No. 36
July 1985
MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH STATISTICS IN NORTH CAROLINA
1969-73 through 1979-83
This report, largely excerpted from the two-volume publication Maternal
and Child Health Statistics 1983, was prepared by Dr. Michael J. Symons,
Statistical Consultant, UNC School of Public Health, assisted by staff of the
SCHS- The full publication, published intermittently by the Maternal and
Child Care Section of the Division of Health Services, provides data for the
state, various regional structures, counties and hospitals. Beginning with birth
year 1 984, the SCHS plans to publish state and county data on an annual basis;
the 1984 report should be available in early fall.
North Carolina routinely collects information on ma¬
ternal characteristics that are known risk factors for con¬
ditions associated with fetal, neonatal and postneonatal
deaths. These risk factors are derived from information
recorded on birth certificates and include young and old
age, low educational level, out of wedlock marital status,
high parity, a previous fetal death or a child born alive but
who is now dead (1). Other factors which are not rou¬
tinely collected but which are known to play important
roles in birth outcome include genetic factors, environ¬
mental factors and infectious diseases. Exposures to var¬
ious toxins in the atmosphere or food are specific exam¬
ples. Therefore, many questions of interest to health
officials concerned with fetal, neonatal and postneonatal
mortality cannot be answered on the basis of routinely
recorded birth and death data, bht rather, require in-
depth special studies.
However, many questions can be examined on the basis
of these data. In particular, it is incumbent upon health
officials to periodically examine the known recorded ma¬
ternal characteristics that have traditionally been asso¬
ciated with morbid pregnancy outcomes in order to see if
the risks are changing and, if so, in what direction, and to
see if the distribution of risk characteristics among deliv¬
ering women changes, and, if so, how. Also, questions
regarding risk in various regions of the state may be an¬
swered from these data.
The trend analysis here has made use of the three pre¬
vious publications which covered birth years 1969-73
(2), 1972-76 (3)and 1975-1979(4)aswell as the present
analysis of the 1979-83 data. Overlapping 5-year periods
in parts of the report were used to provide more stable
rates. Although the use of overlapping years creates some
correlation between rates, this should not affect the
results of this report.
The following definitions apply to this study:
Live Birth — A live birth is the complete expulsion or
extraction from its mother of a product of human concep¬
tion, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, which
after such expulsion or extraction, breathes or shows any
other evidence of life, whether or not the umbilical cord
has been cut.
Fetal Death — A fetal death (stillbirth) is a death prior to
complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of the
product of conception. This report shows only registered
fetal deaths of 20 or more weeks gestation that were not
recorded as abortions.
Neonatal Death — A neonatal death is the death of a
liveborn child under 28 days of age. This report shows
only matched neonatal deaths. A matched neonatal death
is one which is matched with a birth certificate.
